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Wherever a community includes ten Jewish men, there is a mitzva for them to start a synagogue to serve as their “mini-Temple,” a place for public prayer services and Torah study. This mitzva can be seen as an extension of the Jewish people’s obligation to build a Temple in Jerusalem, as it says, “And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8). The synagogue’s daily prayer services correspond to the daily offering and the incense offered in the Temple in the morning and the evening. The holy ark at the front of the synagogue, housing the Torah scrolls, corresponds to the Torah scroll in the Ark in the Holy of Holies. (Synagogues also host Torah classes, which is why they are also called houses of study.)
A synagogue should be built in the highest area of the neighborhood and be more beautiful than the surrounding homes, to reflect its exalted nature. Following the destruction of the Temple, the synagogue assumed great importance, as it commemorates the revelation of the Divine Presence in the Temple. As it says, “I have indeed removed them far among the nations and have scattered them among the countries, yet I shall be a mini-Temple for them in the countries where they have gone” (Ezekiel 11:16). Despite all our suffering in exile, we have continued to preserve our national identity in the synagogue through prayer and Torah study. The sanctity of the synagogue is similar to the sanctity of the Land of Israel. Accordingly, the Sages tell us that in the future, the diaspora’s synagogues and houses of study will be relocated to the Land of Israel.
